


Family Matters

by Benfrosh



Category: Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: Adoption, F/F, Wedding, fefemslashweek2016, it's basically in continuity with all my other elincia/lucia fics, prompt: family, you should check those out too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-31
Updated: 2016-08-31
Packaged: 2018-08-09 04:48:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7787368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Benfrosh/pseuds/Benfrosh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elincia and Lucia are getting married! But the court has something else on its mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family Matters

Elincia stood in the center of a whirlwind of maids fretting over her, her arms held out as they tended to her and her wedding dress, ensuring everything was in order. Even if it was her wedding day, Elincia still felt uncomfortable being the center of so much attention. She felt like she should be taking care of herself, not having everyone fret about her. 

In the end, though, it _was_ her wedding day. If there was any day she was willing to accept it all being about her (and Lucia), it was today.

Over the frenetic buzz of the maids whispering to each other as they worked came a loud knock on the door. "Your Highness, if it be well with you, may I come in?"

"You may, Sir Bastian." The man himself opened the door and walked in, but... something felt wrong. After puzzling about it, Elincia figured out what felt off. He had entered without flaring his cape, announcing himself, or any dramatic flair whatsoever. Indeed, he was simply standing in the corner, concentrating intently on something. "What's the matter, Sir Bastian? Is something wrong?"

Bastian shook his head, stirring from his reverie. "Nothing of the sort, Your Majesty. It's just... well... The issue is also tied in to how to phrase the issue, if you understand what I mean."

Elincia giggled. "I'm afraid I don't at all."

"Hmm. Well. I do wish to be tactful about it, but I fear that unless I'm quite direct my meaning may be lost. And I didn't wish to be so direct on your wedding day, and possibly concern you with such a - what in all honesty is a - trivial matter, it's just one that you'll need to be prepared on when we finally get to court, I hope you understand, and-"

"Bastian, if you don't hurry up and ask I'm going to have to go get married before you can finish."

"Hmm. Yes. Well." Bastian coughed. "Have you and lady Lucia discussed the matter of an heir at all?"

Elincia blinked. "An heir?"

Bastian nodded. "Someone is going to ask in court, and I wanted to make sure you were prepared for an answer. The nobility is concerned with nothing more than a clear line of succession, after all."

"Well, can't it be Duke Renning? He-"

"For many, many, many reasons, my Queen, Duke Renning cannot be in the line of succession again." Bastian coughed once more. "Trust me. I checked."

Elincia sighed. "I really didn't want to think about politics today, Bastian. Can we talk about this later? Even if we were going to have children the usual way, it wouldn't be so pressing an issue."

Bastian nodded ruefully. "That is fair, Your Majesty. It's just... well, hopefully it will be okay." Bastian gave a quick bow. "Enjoy your wedding day, my Queen. You and Lucia are the very picture of beauty." And with that, he left once more, his face still brooding.

Elincia quickly put the whole incident out of her mind. It was her wedding day, after all. Right now, the only thing she wanted to think about was how beautiful Lucia would be at the altar.

\---

Elincia and Lucia walked into the meeting room hand in hand, their first official appearance as Queen and Queen Consort after a very happy wedding day (and night). The court stood at attention as they walked in and approached the head of the long table at which all were arranged. As the couple sat, the rest of the nobility sat in turn.

Before Elincia could address the first item on her agenda, Duke Aldert of Felirae (a cousin of Ludveck's who inherited after the whole rebellion) coughed and stood. "Your Majesty, you honor us with the presence of you and your new Queen Consort today." The nobles politely applauded, and Elincia and Lucia smiled. Lucia gave Elincia's hand a small squeeze under the table. "Truly, with a Queen Consort as capable and supportive as Lucia, our Queen will be capable of any task set before her, and we shall enter a new prosperous era for our wonderful Crimea." More polite applause.

"Thank you, Duke Aldert," Elincia said with a smile. "Your compliments make us most content."

"There is just one small, minor topic of discussion I wanted to bring up." Elincia felt a knot of worry form in her stomach. "It's hardly a pressing matter at all." The knot grew as her heart filled with dread. "Honestly, I doubt I need to ask, but..." This was going to be terrible. She knew it. "Have you and Lucia considered the question of who shall be your heir at all?"

Further down the table, Bastian sighed and pressed his face into his hands, as if to bury his head in the sand to avoid a storm.

Well, the only option was to answer honestly, Elincia thought. "No, not as of yet."

Her words seemed to hang in the air as all the present nobles slowly turned to look at Duke Aldert, still standing, then at each other.

Duke Aldert coughed once more. "Well, if you haven't yet made a decision, my nephew Emerens is a strong, capable lad. If you were to do him the honor of adopting him into the royal family-"

Count Erik of Himmel stood with a shout. "My daughter Iris is far more suited for the royal family, her grasp of politics-"

Another noble Elincia didn't recognize stood and added to the fray, "Clearly she should adopt someone with an existing title-"

And that's when the first punch was thrown. Lucia grabbed Elincia's hand, quickly whispering "We're getting out of here" as she pulled Elincia to the door as the nobles descended into a full on brawl. They quickly opened and slammed it shut behind them, the sounds of the fight somehow getting through the thick oak doors.

"I must admit, I didn't expect the subject of an heir to be so... touchy," Elincia sighed, slumping against the door. "What were they even talking about? With adoption and..."

Lucia took Elincia's hand in her own, playing with the wedding band Elincia now wore. "I'm sorry, Queen Elincia, I should have realized this was going to come up right away. It hasn't happened in the Crimean line of succession yet, but the Dukes and Counts occasionally - well, when an heir isn't appropriate for the line or," she said with a giggle, "never going to happen, they can adopt someone else and have them recognized as the heir. Very commonly it's someone from another dynasty, forming a close alliance with them."

Elincia sighed. "No one ever told me about that."

Lucia gave her a small kiss. "I was going to, but I didn't expect it to be a concern so quickly. Bastian said he would, but..."

Elincia blinked. "Oh, he did, didn't he? I guess that's what he was trying to warn me about." Elincia giggled, but her eyes unfocused as she was soon lost in thought. "Do you think... do you think we'd be good mothers? I hadn't considered it, honestly."

"Without a doubt, my Queen." Elincia turned to look at Lucia's soft smile. "You've succeeded at everything else you've done. And with the two of us together, we could handle motherhood too."

Looking at Lucia, Elincia earnestly believed that.


End file.
